Back in Effingham

As you can tell by now, I have returned to Effingham after a very tiresome two days.

The plane left Honolulu Thursday late afternoon fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. I was very pleased (and a bit surprised). However, due to bad weather in the Windy City, we landed in Chicago more than an hour late.

I had to wait thirty minutes for my luggage and after retrieving it hopped on the next train to Union Station. From there I was to catch at Amtrak train back to Effingham.

As it happened I missed the train to Effingham by about fifteen minutes.

I called all around Chicago to rent a car "one way" to Effingham. It turns out this was impossible; it was hard enough to find a car rental agency who even had one way rentals.

I then waited at Union Station until about 1:00 p.m. when a seminary classmate of mine was free to pick me up. We went for a Chicago style deep dish pizza and visited for a while. This was the most pleasant part of the day.

After lunch we went to the Paulist Press where I purchased the movie Molokai, which I watched on the train ride home (more on the movie tomorrow).

I caught the 5:00 train to Effingham and arrived last night at 9:00, after not really sleeping at all for 48 hours.

I arose this morning at 5:00 for the 6:30 a.m. Mass and was back in bed again by 7:15. I was awakened again at 11:30 by the telephone and then decided I best get to work on a homily, which I'll post tomorrow morning after a few adjustments.

It's been a long day and my body is now beginning to adjust from the time difference. It's also beginning to adjust back to life in the Midwest. My fingers and knees are swelling again (the humidity is terrible and stifling). I've also either developed a severe summer cold or an allergy. I think it's the latter.

On my way out to Shumway this evening it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was no longer in Hawaii. There was no ocean on the horizon and no mountain anywhere. Nothing but corn.

I'm glad to be back among the parishioners, but I can't say I'm glad to be back in central Illinois. This is all part of the cross, I suppose.

Now, I'm off to bed. Good night!